A teenager has been jailed for more than five years after carrying out a series of raids on banks - including one on his 18th birthday.

Muhallab Elhaghany also took along a 17-year-old friend for the robbery at NatWest on Victoria Road, Netherfield, on January 18 this year.

The pair got away with £2,290 before striking again at the RBS branch on Woodborough Road, Mapperley Top, the crown court in Derby heard.

The cashier at the second robbery handed over £5,578, before the duo staged failed raids at banks in Mansfield, Alfreton, Sheffield and Dronfield before the 14-day campaign ended with their arrest on February 1.

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Another said: "Make sure it is £10,000. This is not a joke. Lives are at risk. I am armed. I will do anything. Don't press the panic alarm."

While he went into the banks, Wray was in mobile phone contact with Elhaghany who sat in a car parked nearby and was found on the last occasion with a knife in a man bag.

Some cashiers said that Wray often put a hand near one of his pockets and they thought he might have been carrying a weapon.

Darius Wray, who has been jailed for four years and six months for two bank robberies (Image: Nottinghamshire Police)

After passing his menacing message to one bank cashier, Wray was heard on the phone saying: "She has gone to the back." He always demanded the return of the notes.

Judge Nirmal Shant QC told the pair: "It doesn't take the greatest imagination to know the impact it would have on somebody receiving those notes.

"Your actions were successful and you got £2,290 and then £5,758 but it is right to say you were aiming to get greater amounts. In one case, you said the money needed to be over £10,000 and £5,000 minimum."

She said the cases were more serious because there was some planning. In some cases, they bought a cheap car and then dumped it.

The judge said they spent the money on "luxury items" and twice booked into Birmingham hotels, paying cash for their stays.

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Steve Gosnell, for Elhaghany, said he comes from a "hardworking, intelligent, well-educated family" and told the judge: "It is nothing short of extraordinary that he is in this position. He has passed all his GCSEs.

"He didn't have a trial and he pleaded guilty. He took that decision, a brave decision and it was a decision that shocked his family.

"That is a mark of the man who sits behind me and spoke to me this morning about his regret."

Derby Crown Court

Jonathan Hullis, for Wray, said there were "amateur elements" to the offences. On one occasion, his mask slipped and that gave "a good view of his face".

Mr Hullis told the judge: "Whilst some planning went into it, they were far from criminal masterminds doing it." He said that Wray "lacks maturity" and went on: "This experience is alien to his whole family.

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"He knows he can't turn the clock back to those 14 days of his life where he acted out of the character that he had shown for the rest of his life."

The pair admitted robberies at Netherfield on January 18 and at Mapperley Top on January 23. They pleaded guilty to attempted bank robberies at Lloyd's Bank, Alfreton on January 27; Lloyd's on Church Street, Mansfield on the same day; at Lloyd's TSB in Eccleshall Road, Sheffield on February and at the RBS in Dronfield later that day.

They will serve half their terms in custody before being released under probation supervision.

Detective Inspector Dave Lowe said: “This has been a complex case made more difficult by the investigation spanning across three counties. Even though a weapon was never produced at the banks or building societies, these organised robberies left victims traumatised.

“The sentence today reflects the age of these two offenders at the time of the crime. However, our communities will now be protected with them unable to inflict more crime across the county.”